


Not Allowed

by superheroine



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: M/M, erik is a hard man to find, everyone thinks charles is dying, mystique is upset, really sick charles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-01-04
Packaged: 2018-03-05 08:23:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3112832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superheroine/pseuds/superheroine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles is very, very sick. He might be dying. As Charles's oldest friend, Hank knew what he had to do.  But damn if Erik wasn't a hard man to find.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Allowed

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Twenty Years](https://archiveofourown.org/works/293530) by [TurtleTotem](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TurtleTotem/pseuds/TurtleTotem). 



> I bet you can find the exact line that inspired this. :)

Charles had been deathly ill for a month by the time Hank had managed to track down one Erik Lehnsherr. 

Given his wealth and status, accompanied by whatever disease this was- even Hank wasn't sure; at first it had seemed like influenza, but now he wasn't so sure, all he knew was that it wasn't contagious- he had been given his own doctors and accommodations. Whatever this was, it was bad. And Charles knew it. He had brought in all of the teachers at the Institute to inform them of who would take over when he was gone, had finalized his will-

He was very sick. And he wasn't getting better.

This was Hank's duty, as Charles' oldest remaining friend, to fulfill his last wish, even if it had never been said out loud. Hank knew even without words. But  _damn_ if Erik wasn't a hard man to find. Hank hadn't seen him outside of battle in years, not since Cuba. Hank saw the logic behind keeping the Brotherhood's location secret, but this was bordering on ridiculous. How do you hide that many people? 

So when Hank finally, _finally_ found them, called and demanded to speak to Magneto (he actually had to correct himself, no one called him Erik, not anymore), he was almost surprised that the next person on the phone was the man he was looking for. 

"Erik."

"Hank."

Pause.

"Hank, did you track down my phone number for any particular reas-"

"Charles is dying." There was silence on the line. "I mean, not for sure, but he's been in the hospital for a month and he's getting worse and  _god,_ he's been saying his goodbyes-"

"Where." Not a question.

So Hank told him, and Erik hung up the phone and ran to grab his coat.

* * *

He was there within three hours. No flying, no costume, no helmet. The point was to get in and see Charles, not scare everyone else.

The other X-men didn't even recognize him. He made it to Hank, right outside Charles's door before anyone realized, and even then all he got was a raised eyebrow from Hank, who opened the door, finger to his lips.

He entered the room, fusing the lock shut behind him, and realized just how bad Charles looked. Even under the blankets, he looked pale, and skinny too. Gaunt almost. It's not like him to worry, but doesn't being here at all prove that this is an exception?

Charles groaned from the bed, opening his eyes. He sat up and closed his eyes for a moment before reopening them. "Erik?"

"Hello, Charles."

They stared at each other for a moment before Charles jerked his head, and then suddenly Erik is in the bed next to him,  _making_ space for both of their bodies, holding Charles's skinny body close to him so they can stay on the bed, and he can feel Charles's  _happiness/surprise/sad realization_  and Charles pulls back, just enough to look at Erik's face.

"I'm dying." He says it just like that, matter-of-fact, and suddenly Erik was furious.

"No, you are not. You haven't survived all that shit in your life to die now. You are _not allowed_ to die, Charles, do you understand? You have to fight, and you have to live, because I refuse to accept that you would give up like this."

Charles started laughing.

Erik felt slightly offended, before he started to laugh too, because who had ever thought they would be in this situation?

They stayed like that, curled up together in that small hospital bed (Erik fixed the lock from the door to prevent the X-men from destroying it), talking both physically and mentally, playing chess games inside their heads, and Erik had forgotten how good it could feel to have Charles in his mind. 

When visiting hours end, Hank comes in to retrieve Erik (because now, for the first time in years, he feels like _Erik_ , not Magneto), and Charles smiles and thanks them both in their heads. Charles asks him to stay at the Institute, and Erik can't say no to that, not when Charles was so sick and he had been planning on coming back every single day until he was well enough to leave. Erik smiled, and the next morning, when Hank came downstairs to grab something to eat before returning to the hospital, Erik was reading a book in a chair near the door, completely ready to leave. 

Erik didn't return to the Brotherhood for weeks. Hadn't even thought about them, if he was honest with himself. But if anybody noticed that the day he returned was also the day, according to the press, that Charles Xavier, Professor X, returned home after a two and a half month stint in the hospital for a life threatening illness, nobody said a word.

(Except Mystique, who was furious. Not because he had left, but because no one had told her about her brother. She threw a fit of epic proportions and even went to the school to interrogate him on his wellbeing and generally become Raven again, even for a little while. But that's another story.)


End file.
